Water Testing Project in Ukraine!

EWG Ukraine has recently been awarded by the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers Northern California Association (RPCV NorCal) a grant to conduct water testing in every oblast of Ukraine!

Every PCV in Ukraine knows not to drink water straight from the tap--each town has its own legends of town members losing their teeth or developing other health issues because of the local water. The water testing project is currently underway to test these theories!

Participating volunteers are asked to teach a lesson about water pollution, test their local water with testing kits provided by EWG, and then conduct an environmentally oriented community project with their partner organization.

All water testing targeted to be finished before the end of the academic school year in June, 2012


Following Up After Testing

So you conducted the water testing, now what? So you concluded your water testing kit, now what? Well, us here at the Environmental Working Group has exactly that information for you. Our next step is to go out and get grants and projects accomplished. We've had multiple water treatment projects completed on small school levels and some water treatment projects that have been conducted on a bigger city scale. Here are the steps you should go through in order to start your water treatment project.

1) Meet with your counterpart, local organizations, or the person who will be your primary partner in this project. Talk to her or him about some of the ideas you have, grants available, show the tests you conducted with your water testing kit. Basically, get the ball rolling on a practical project.

2) Go to the site, go check out all of the actors that will be involved in your project; treatment plans, pipelines, river shores, etc. Document your trip, you want to get as much information about the purposed site as possible.

3) Research grant opportunities/organizations that may already be working in your area.
http://eco-tiras.org/ and momma 86 seems to be great organizations that has done a lot of work with water testing projects. Also, you can get funding through the other websites like the EPA, clean water project, etc.

4) Present the information to your counterpart and begin drafting the grant. Make sure to touch base constantly and be proactive about deadlines!

5) Present information to other volunteers in EWG so we can rally for support and possible grant funding!

6) Please peruse our "Projects Resources" link on the left hand column for more information on proper grant submission, project implementation, and logistics.


We Still Need Testing!


The Following Oblasts Still Need Testers:
  1. Kirovograd
  2. Kharkiv

If you are interested, please contact Theodora Tran at michaellipina1@gmail.com. Thanks!



Water Testing Resources:


Water Lesson Plan:

  1. Powerpoint, to be used in conjunction with lesson plan
  2. Helpful Translations Worksheet, synced with the PowerPoint presentation
  3. Water Lesson Plan
  4. Student Worksheet, to be used with the lesson plan
  5. Chemicals Chart and Video Transcript with Ukrainian Translation
  6. Water Lesson Plan sources
  7. Quality Drinking Water Scarce in Ukraine Video
  8. Results Sheet--Refer to "Project Close-Out Report" Below

*NEW!!! Color Indicator Sheet and Instructions for Water Testing Kits (Hard Copy):

Instructional Video:

  • PLEASE NOTE: On the video one of the testing equipment is labelled as "salmonella test jar." This is incorrect--it is in fact an "E. Coli test Jar."
  • Untitled from Jeff Ball on Vimeo.

  • Video not working? Follow the link instead: http://vimeo.com/39892584

Project Close-Out Report:

  • When you have conducted the lesson plan, testing, and environmental project, please fill out this formand send it to water-task-force@googlegroups.com

  • Information from these forms will be compiled into our interactive map!



Interactive Map!


Important: Testing has not concluded and the Water Task Force is in the process of analyzing results before any conclusions are made from this project. Results below are data obtained from PCV testing, and The Water Task Force has not made any statements about the water of Ukraine at this time. Please continue to check back with updates in the project!**

At this present time, for safety and security reasons, exact locations of testing have not be revealed. Locations on map are meant to represent a site within its representative oblast.


View Water Testing Project Across Ukraine! in a larger map

Questions? Email Theodora Tran at:michaellipina1@gmail.com